Drama builds as FedEx Cup prepares for next-to-last event at Chicago

The PGA Tour has its first week off since January after the FedEx Cup reached the midpoint of its four-week run when Henrik Stenson scored a two-shot victory at the Deutsch Bank Classic Monday in Boston.

What it amounts to is a chance for the remaining 70 players to take a breath before beginning the big push toward the Tour Championship in two weeks in Atlanta.

There are two significant dynamics at work as players try to position themselves for the big-money paydays available: On one level, the top seven or eight players heading into next week’s next-to-last event will be gunning to make the top five, from which will come the ultimate winner of the FedEx Cup and the $5 million prize. On another level, the eight-to-10 players ahead of and just behind the 30-man cut line will be scrambling to get inside that number as the field gets cut from 70 to 30 for the Tour Championship.

A closer look at how the two break down:

Top five: Stenson moved ahead of Tiger Woods into the No. 1 spot, but Woods is still second, followed by Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar and Canadian Graham DeLaet. If there’s a familiar name missing from that list, it’s Phil Mickelson, whose struggles last week dropped him to sixth, 44 points behind DeLaet. Mickelson certainly can turn it around, but his game has not been at its best since his British Open win, despite his best efforts to get back on track.

Justin Rose still has a shot at moving up from No. 7 to the top five, but has to have a strong showing at Chicago as he trails DeLaet by 142 points. In a similar position is Steve Stricker, who moved up to No. 8 after his second-place finish at Deutsch Bank but still trails DeLaet by 189 points. As consistent as he’s been this year, Stricker can make another significant jump in the standings this week, but he’ll almost certainly need three or four guys ahead of him to fall back to have a shot.

Top 30: Ernie Els made just enough shots last week to claim the 70th and last spot in next week’s field, but the drama this week moves to the top 30 and a completely different group of players.

Harris English has played well enough this season to hold the 28th spot, 18 points ahead of Charl Schwartzel. Lee Westwood is at No. 30, but seems sure to have a handful of pursuers as a number of excellent players just behind him try to place high enough to make the jump.

Charles Howell III is 33 points behind Westwood and Kevin Stadler, another guy who made a big jump last week, is another 13 back. The next four and the number of points they trail Westwood: No. 33 Kevin Chappell (74), No. 34 Nick Watney (78), No. 35 Scott Piercy (85) and No. 36 Rickie Fowler (87).

The Tour Championship, set for Sept. 19-22 at Atlanta Athletic Club, effectively ends the 2013 PGA Tour season, with the Presidents Cup coming the following week at Muirfield Village in Columbus. And before you know it, the 2014 season will be getting underway later in October.